Saturday, October 11, 2008

I Have a Whole New Respect...

...for sock dyers. Last night I skeined 2 pounds of bulky yarn, measured out 2 pounds of roving, and attempted to skein 2 pounds of sock yarn. My swift had other ideas. Like collapsing after I wound only 2 ounces on to it. This was after my calculations (again) proved wrong and I had to re-wind the bulky yarn (on a side note: you should really read Jenny Ryan's post on why math is evil. I think I may agree with her after last night). I had to wind the sock yarn onto my ball winder and measure out 4 ounces using my electronic scale (thank goodness for my new electric scale). Today I was able to wind these balls into skeins. For some reason the swift decided to cooperate with me.

This morning I made 6 dye stocks. I admit I was a little paranoid when I first started. I've read all these posts about how you can get lung irritation and breathing problems from this stuff and there are some people who seem to go a little overboard with their precautions. I don't have the means to have a separate dye studio so I have to use my sun room. After I made the first few stocks I got a little more comfortable. When I was finished I was more relaxed about the process. I will admit I was a little concerned because I used my teapot to boil the water but I didn't bring it near the dyes and I put the hot water in a measuring cup I only use for dyeing purposes. But then I got a little panic-ed because as I was cleaning out the measuring cup a few drops of dye got on some plates I had in the sink. Then I was afraid that I'd kill myself or my cat because of that. I decided a nice hot wash under the facet and then again in the dishwasher should do the trick. If anyone out there thinks I should be concerned about this more than I am please tell me. I'm not a person who likes to freak myself out over things but I tend to do that on a regular basis unfortunately.

I'm currently waiting on my first real dye experiment to finish up. I'll be sure and post pictures as soon as it's done so that you all can get a sneak peek at what will be in the store!

P.S. The website is live but, unfortunately you can't see anything. Go ahead and bookmark it if you wish though :) It's www.vividcreationfibers.com.